Speaking of unmentionables...

I mumble, then fumble ... “Yeah, hmmm... fe... uhm... contamination is very serious.” But my listener is deadpan. “Just say it,” she says, “Faeces, faecal... even better, shit,” in a clipped Yorkshire accent.

I am guilty of drawing on the scatological at the most inappropriate of moments, but when required to do so now, professionally, I seem to have hit a wall. I am in conversation with Rose George, a British writer, who has written a book on basically everything to do with, uhm... shit. It is called The Big Necessity — The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters.

“Technically, it’s not waste. It is really good to use. I am trying to rehabilitate the word — shit. It is a noble word meaning the separation of the good from the bad,” she adds, while I attempt to overcome my sudden inhibitions.

I decide the best way to open up is by sharing an experience of my own — the mortifying one of using a toilet roll for the first time. There is a sympathetic nod. “In all of America you wouldn’t find a bidet,” I am told. She continues to point out that India and Pakistan — both with abysmal penetration of sanitary measures — impress because they have a washing culture practised across the socio-economic spectrum.

“Women talk amongst women, but yes, men do talk about it more. But it is common that people go on and on. Sometimes I have to shut people up. There is much more appetite (for it) than assumed,” she says.

Now that it is apparent that talking shit does not impact you socially, I ask the obvious. What made her write the book? “I used to work at a magazine called Colours. They once published a feature called “Kakas” — glossy animal shit. But it was more the small stories about sanitation, especially about Sulabh and manual scavenging in India, that stuck with me.”

The choice of subject fits the larger theme that defines George’s work: “I write about what interests me — things that don’t interest others,” she says. Her interests have taken her, as a travel journalist, to the war zone in Kosovo, to the Alternative World Cup final match between Bhutan and Montserrat (now you know why it’s called “alternate”, it’s for the no-hopers), and even to two of the late Saddam Hussein’s birthday parties.

I am curious about those solid gold toilets in his palaces. But dash it, it seems the parties were at a parade ground, or so says George. “I went in 2000-01. Every year, his birthday was a propaganda event. I just phoned the liaison guy at the Jordanian embassy in London. He said, ‘Yes’. I suppose, they thought in terms of more the Brits, the better it would be for them,” she recalls.

The pick for her, though, has been travelling to Liberia and documenting stories of refugees in a book, A Life Removed, long-listed for the Letter Ulysses Award for literary reportage. Another memorable experience was documenting stories of gang-rape in France. “Not many know that gang-rape is a big problem in France. There are neglected worlds, and these make for good characters.”

You will find plenty of “good” characters in her latest work. A favourite for me are the engineers at Toto, the Japanese company that manufactures the world’s most advanced, hi-tech toilets. A little censorship must prevail here; picking up a copy of the book is advised.

“HIV had the same taboo as when saying ‘sex’ or ‘condoms’. We must learn from that and make sanitation more user-friendly,” says George, who was a regular at almost all the recent conventions organised by the World Toilet Organisation, an NGO, and others. Though appalled at the lack of reportage on the issue worldwide, she says awareness in India is good since activists here are “the most straight-talking and pragmatic people working on sanitation”. We muse for a while and she declares: “We need a celebrity endorsement.” Will a volunteer stand up?

THE BIG NECESSITY

Author:Rose George
Publisher:Metropolitan Books
pages: 288
Price: Rs $ 26